BACK of the BOOK
The Break Room
A look at the social side of medicine
In this edition, Aaron T. Gerds, MD, MS (@AaronGerds), walks us through his path to Twitter
and offers advice for hematologists who are new to the social media platform. Dr. Gerds is
assistant professor of medicine in the Hematology and Medical Oncology department at the
Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute.
MY TWITTER JOURNEY
By Aaron T. Gerds, MD, MS
y journey to Twitter was not my idea.
A few years ago, the chairman of the
Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer
Institute, Brian Bolwell, MD
(@BrianBolwellMD), realized that
social media could play a vital role
in our efforts to care for patients. Along with members
of our media department, he saw that Twitter, which at
that time allowed us a measly 140 characters to share our
thoughts, could be a useful tool for reaching patients,
communicating with colleagues, and increasing the
visibility of our institute.
There was an internal push to get our cancer physi-
cians tweeting. Members of the media department started
holding half-hour training classes for doctors – both a
basic Twitter 101 course and a more advanced course
about increasing your visibility and creating more mean-
ingful conversations.
It was a great resource, but – don’t tell my boss – I
largely ignored the rush to create a Twitter handle.
It wasn’t until I was at the 2014 ASH Annual Meeting,
sitting in an education session next to Naveen Pemmaraju,
MD (@doctorpemm), and Laura Michaelis, MD
(@lauracmichaelis), that I realized the value of Twitter.
They were both live-tweeting their thoughts about the
presentation, taking part in real-time dialogue with
those in the room and around the world. Afterward,
we started discussing how they use Twitter to get
information about what’s happening in the field.
Twitter isn’t just for millennials, I thought. It’s a way to
get up-to-date information about developments in my field
and to hear what colleagues think about them.
That was the inspiration I needed. I signed up for an
account right then and there.
Finding Your Community
When I ask physicians why they aren’t on Twitter, the
most common answer is “I don’t have time for that.”
Many of our colleagues don’t view it as a vital part of their
practices, so spending time on it seems like a waste. Their
default response is, “Leave it to the millennials.”
But, Twitter doesn’t need to take up your whole day.
I’m not a user who sets aside dedicated Twitter time, but
I fit it in here and there. During the downtime before
a meeting, when people are still trickling in, I’ll scroll
through my feed. When I’m reading through Blood or
scanning PubMed, I’ll comment on an article that piques
my interest. It’s an easy way to start a conversation about
ASHClinicalNews.org
new information that I find interesting without disrupting
my day.
The perceived time commitment can be a huge
stumbling block for people hesitant to join the ranks of
tweeting physicians. I would argue, though, that it can
save time.
It’s our duty as health-care professionals to stay up-
to-date on the latest advances in our field, but that’s a
monumental task. There is so much medical literature
published every day, some research has estimated that if a
person wanted to read every piece of literature pertinent
to one’s field, it would take more than a decade.
Now, if only there were a place where everybody in
your field was looking through the literature, comment-
ing on what he or she finds meaningful, and sharing it
with all interested parties …
Twitter really started taking hold for me when I rec-
ognized its value as a tool for curating information. You
can make Twitter work for you. As with any social-media
platform, there is a lot of noise and chatter on Twitter. To
me, it’s people who post, “Hey, look at my paper on this,”
without offering any follow-up, who distract from mean-
ingful conversations we want to incite.
I eventually found that to use Twitter effectively and
make it a valuable part of your professional life, you have
to find your community. For example, as a specialist in
myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), I follow a group of
hematologists, patients, and advocacy groups that tweet
with the hashtag #MPNSM, or “myeloproliferative neo-
plasms social media.” The members of this community
are all interested in new developments in our field, and
we’re all there to start discussions about what these devel-
opments might mean for our patients and practices.
With the #MPNSM group, I found a community of
people who are interested in having the same conversa-
tion I want to have. I’ve been on threads where we’ve had
double-digit replies about an individual paper or find-
ing – why it might be important, why we need to pause
before we implement the results of the research, and what
the next steps for the research should be.
Many, including Joseph Mikhael, MD, MEd
(@jmikhaelmd), have dubbed it “the ultimate peer
review.” If information is available online, anybody can
view it and anybody can comment on it. It’s not just
“Reviewer 1” and “Reviewer 2” assessing the informa-
tion; literally anyone with an internet connection can
give you an opinion.
Get Ready for #ASH18!
Dr. Gerds, who is chair of the ASH Committee
on Communications, will be featured in a new
series of “How I Tweet” videos available on
hematology.org later this year. The videos will
provide advice for doctors new to Twitter or
who want to use Twitter more effectively.
Aaron T. Gerds, MD, MS
@AaronGerds
And that’s a wrap! Had a great time filming
“How I Tweet” as part of @ASH_hematology
Committee on Communicati